Diet for Natural Bodybuilding Over 50

Inside Natural Bodybuilding Part 2

This is part 2 in a series of 5 interviews with bodybuilder Tomas de la Milera. He is a 51 year old bodybuilder with a classic physique like Frank Zane. Peek into his world as he prepares for competition and he shares what it takes to be a natural bodybuilder.

Eating fat to strip fat

Tracey: What are the main things you cut out of your diet to strip fat?

Tomas: You know it’s interesting because I added fat to strip fat. My diet today would be considered a paleo approach. I basically moved beyond the Neolithic period into the Paleolithic period. My diet consists of, depending on the time of year, on meats, poultry, fish, vegetables and fruit. That’s basically as far as I go. I’ve cut out everything else so when I go to the market it’s either the vegetable area I go to, it makes it so much easier, or the poultry, the meat section and the fruit section and there it is. Very simple. Very simplified.

Tracey: Okay cool! How long have you been doing that for?

Tomas: I have been following this program, consecutively now, for about two years.

Tracey: Do you use any fat burning supplements? What are they?

Tomas: I use fat to burn fat! I’ve incorporated more saturated fats and I find that, I don’t know If I’m saying this right or correctly, I’m more satisfied, I don’t have to eat as much! I think it’s called satiety or something, where my food consumption has actually dropped because I’m not as hungry and I don’t crave. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t crave sweets like I used to. I’ve gotten to believe that there’s no such thing as a sweet tooth, but there is a fat tooth. I think that we’ve gone to a point that we are neglecting our saturated fats.

Tracey: So what kind of saturated fats would you eat?

Tomas: You know what I actually do is I will take it from grass-fed meats. But I’ve also incorporated table spoons called “tilly” which is actually beef lard. I will incorporate two table spoons of that with my meats and I’m completely satisfied throughout the day. I’m actually incorporating a little bit more now and I’m actually starting to cut up more for a show that’s coming up. So I find myself getting leaner when I incorporate more of the saturated and mono and maybe about 3% of the poly.

Tracey: Wow! That’s interesting!

Tomas: Yes.

Tomas de Milera

Supplements to build muscle

Tracey: What are the best supplements you’ve used to build muscle?

Tomas: You know in all honesty, the only supplementation that I take, because I really, really, focus on my diet, is minerals and of course a multi-vitamin. I will incorporate the omegas, Omega-3. Because I think even with grass-fed, it’s depleted somewhat. But for years, it’s interesting, I have moved away from supplementation.

I understand the importance now of hydrogenated proteins and ways that will help when it comes to bodybuilding and what they call “nutrient timing.” But I’m really focused more on, now, diet in the sense of: I’ll have my eggs in correlation to my workout. I’ll have my eggs, which are a good amount of BCAs (branch chain amino acids), I’ll have them a good 3 hours before my training. And then during that time, from my education, they should be ready to be used; the BCAs should be ready to be used in your body 3 hours prior to your workout. So that’s my approach at the moment. Supplementations are needed because you’re taking your body to the excess, but I’ve found that minerals and a multi, always a multi, and some Omega-3 are a big plus when it comes to supplementation.